Halo Infinite needed a new game engine because it's so ambitious

And it's still continuing the story after Halo 5

Halo Infinite developer 343 Industries has revealed that Master Chief's next alien-blasting outing is so ambitious it needed to be built on a brand spanking new game engine.

The sequel to Halo 5 was announced during Microsoft's E3 presser on Monday night, where the company confirmed it would be powered by the new Slipspace engine.

Having said that, fans have expressed concern about the ambitious new direction the game appears to be heading in. In response, 343 Industries has assured fans that they're not ditching the story established with Halo 5; it's still very much a continuation of the Reclaimer narrative.

Halo Infinite doesn't have a release date yet, although presumably it's still a long way off given we didn't see any gameplay footage. In fact, 343 was keen to point out following the presser that the trailer we saw was for Slipspace, not the game itself.

We are continuing the story after the events of Halo 5. #HaloInfinite is an ambitious new game and we needed to build a new engine to support that.